Agriculture, Baltic Export, China, Estonia, Foodstuff, Good for Business, Markets and Companies

"In opening and keeping open new markets, the Veterinary and Food Board is guided by the active interest of  companies, while the readiness of the companies themselves to participate in the process is also important," said Marko Breivel, chief specialist at the trading and import and export department of the Veterinary and Food Board.

"A prerequisite for the Hong Kong import permit was the coordinated cooperation between the Veterinary and Food Board and interested companies," Breivel added.

In order to receive the export permit, the authority submitted a relevant application to the competent authority of Hong Kong in 2016. Among other things, the process also involved the filling in of questionnaires by the Veterinary and Food Board and the interested companies, the authority said.

In fall 2018, Hong Kong officials made a control visit to Estonia, during which the Estonian national monitoring system as well as the chain of beef production from cow houses to the production of ready-to-use products was audited. Based on the results of the audit, the Hong Kong market was opened to Estonian companies.